Portable gun rest utilizing a flexible strap



y 1958 I w. c. ORMOND 3,381,406

PORTABLE GUN REST UTILIZING A FLEXIBLE STRAP Fig. 2

Willard C. Ormond IN VENTOR.

United States Patent 3,381,406 PORTABLE GUN REST UTILIZING A FLEXIBLE STRAP Willard C. Ormond, Rte. 2, Box 70-A, Rigby, Idaho 83442 Filed Jan. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 609,926 5 Claims. (Cl. 42-94) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention The present invention relates, generally categorized, to portable firearms, principally rifles and handguns, and has to do with a portable lightweight gun rest, more particularly, a frame-supported barrel holding swing which is firm yet flexible enough to prevent shooting away in an undesired manner and direction. Undesirable shooting away is caused as is well known, by gun vibration, barrel-whip and uncontrollable recoil when the rifle is fired.

A significant aspect of the concept is the provision of a simple, inexpensive, light weight, readily portable device which is such that it can be carried on the users trousers belt whereby it is available to him when field shooting, especially when gunning for various pests and varmints.

The reader can envision an in-use gun, a rifle for example, which has been zeroed in so that its bullet is aimed to hit the bulls-eye coincident with the point-of-aim at a given target range. Manifestly, if the rifle is held upon a solid rest (of any kind or type) it will shoot upward and away from the rest and will not hit the point-of-aim for which it was zeroed. If the same rifle or gun is held firmly against a solid rest at its left side the result will be a hit to the right side of the point-'of-aim. By the same token, if the rifle is held against anysoli'd rest with contact imposed on its right side, it will shoot to the left of the" point-of-aim. It follows that the rifle or gun will not hit as intended, that is, when a solid rest or support is utilized to prop up and steady the rifle.

The state of the prior art, generally speaking, is shown in 'Kesters Rifle Rest, Patent 2,847,909 which however is structurally unlike the swing-type rest herein revealed. A second and more analogous prior art prop-type rest is shown in Hadleys Gun Rest 3,235,998. The problem of stabilizing a rifle is thought to be better solved by the innov-ation hereinafter disclosed. To the ends desired a simple inverted U-shaped wicket-like stand or frame is provided and is equipped with a swing which is unique in that it suspends the barrel and holds the rifle steady, much as though supported upon a rigid prop yet provides the inherent yieldable and flexible properties desired in a manner which, as repeated trial and error usage has shown, well serves its intended purposes particularly when used with the rifleman assuming a prone field-shooting position.

Summary Briefly, the invention herein disclosed comprises an inverted U-shaped frame constituting a stand or upright. The legs are straight and have pointed lower ends capable ice of (1) being forced and anchored in the ground or other terrain or (2) shoved through and friction fitted in holes or slot means in a bench or table in a manner to provide a so-called bench-rest. It is thus feasible for practical and controlled use with both rifles and handguns. Thus employed and equipped with a flexible swing or sling it achieves the over-all result of sighting-in a gun, or fieldshooting it so that the gun shoots reliably with accuracy and can be capably handled much to the gratification of the user.

More specifically, novelty is predicated on a stiff but bendable rod bent into U-shaped form and equipped with a suitable leather or equivalent strap which is wrapped around the bight and upper leg portions and whose free ends are tied in a bow-knot, whereby to provide the desired flexible swing-like rest.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of the improved rifle swing.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the section line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section on the horizontal line 3-3 of FIG- URE 2 on an enlarged scale.

Description of the preferred embodiment Broadly construed the underlying idea, as the title of the invention implies, is to provide a feasible easy-to-carry and ready-to-use device wherein an element which is both flexible and possessed of inherent yieldable properties provides a barrel suspension swing which when in use is in a generally horizontal position and carried by a wicket-like frame said swing being poised at a level to support and cradle the barrel of the gun for controllable and reliable aiming purposes.

The support means, more specifically, comprises the aforementioned stand or upright 6. This significant part comprises a bendable but stiff stout wire which in practice is approximately 40 inches long and of a size and degree of stiffness approximating that of #10 galvanized wire. The wire, also referred to as rod stock, is bent upon itself intermediate its ends to provide an inverted U-shaped vertically elongated, relatively narrow stand of the type shown in FIG. 1. The median or bight portion 8 is of substantially semi-circular configuration and joins like depending limbs or legs 10 which are straight and have pointed lower ends as at 12 which in practice are capable of being forcibly pressed into the ground in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1. In actual practice, the legs are spread apart approximately some six inches and are in a common plane and of equal length. The barrel whip and vibration resisting means, broadly speaking, is denoted at 14 in FIGS. 1 and 3. This means is lateral to the longitudinal axes of the legs 10 and is spaced below the bight portion at the desired level to accommodate the barrel of the gun or rifle in the manner suggested in phantom lines in FIG. 1. To achieve the end results desired this cradling and suspending means 14 is possessed of both flexible and yieldable properties and is accordingly self-compensating when properly used by an experienced hunter. The means is also adjustable so that the desired slack, if any, may be brought into being in the manner shown. More specifically, the cradling and suspension means 14 comprises a length of leather (or equivalent material) strap. In practice, the strap is wound spirally around and down each of the wire legs to an approximate distance of six inches in the manner shown. The strap means is denoted generally by the numeral 16 and the windings or wrappings are spirally wound as at 18. At the approximate points 20 on both legs the strap ends are fashioned into half-hitches 22. Then the free end portions 24 are connected together, that is preferably connected by a bow 26 whose loops are denoted at 28 and knot at 30, the knot being at the approximate center of the barrel cradling means 14. This means is also referred to as an adjustable swing.

In use, the rifle or other gun is placed so that the barrel projects forwardly between the upper portions of the respective legs 10 in such a manner that the end of the barrel rests upon the swing at the approximate central point, that is the knot area or zone 30. The wire legs are pushed into the ground to a depth required by the shooters position, height, type of ground and so on. Then, with the shooters elbow and body in a standard prone or equivalent position, the rifle is supported upon three points of anchorage, the elbows, the foreend swing. It follows that with this adaptation and arrangement the barrel is elevated and held. This steadies the gun and aim to a far greater degree than would be possible without a gun rest, particularly one of the type shown and described.

The herein disclosed rest is significantly and aptly advantaueous in that it holds the gun steady without causing it to swerve or shoot away from contact with a relatively rigid surface. As any experienced shooter knows, if the rifle is held upon a solid rest, it will shoot away in a direction from that rest. If held against a solid rest laterally, it will also shoot laterally and away from the rest. It follows that both the sighting-in and aim are exasperatingly spoiled.

It will be evident too that the swing shown and described is adequate for support and reliable folding and yet flexible enough to prevent shooting away in an undesired manner. It follows that a stand supported straptype or equivalent swing such as that herein shown and described will serve the purposes for which the invention has been devised and effectually used.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A gun rest comprising a portable inverted vertically elongated relatively narrow U-shaped member constituting a stand, said member having a pair of like coplanar spaced parallel legs whose upper ends are joined by an arcuate bight portion, the lower ends of said legs being pointed and adapted to be embedded in the ground or an equivalent support surface, and flexible strap means .4 spanning the space between and operatively connected to the upper median portions of said legs, said means being flexible and adapted to suspend and cradle the barrel of a rifle aimed by a shooter in a prone shooting position or a sitting position at bench-rest.

2. The structure according to claim 1 and wherein said strap means embodies separable and connectible end portions which are capable of being adjustably connected by a knotted bow, and wherein said bow is situated midway between said legs.

3. The structure according to claim 1 and wherein said means comprises a strap of requisite length having portions wrapped around said bight and leg portions, respectively, and having free ends which can be separably connected by an adjustable bow.

4. For use by a hunter, a prone-shooting rifleman for example, a portable gun rest designed and adapted to elevate and hold the forward end of a rifle barrel which is zeroed in so that its bullet will be projected to hit coincident with the point-of-aim at a given range comprising: an inverted vertically elongated U-shaped frame fashioned from a bendable self-shape-sustaining rod bent upon itself between its ends and embodying an arched bight portion and a pair of complemental depending coplanar legs having lower pointed ends capable of being forcibly pressed and anchored in the ground in a manner to support said frame in an upright usable position, and barrel-whip and vibration resisting means comprising a flexible strap having a portion thereof intermediate its ends wrapped around said bight portion and adjacent depending parts of said legs and having free ends, said free ends spanning the space between and being operatively connected to cooperating median portions of said legs, said free ends having terminal portions thereof separably and adjustably connected together to provide a flexible gun barrel swing.

5. The structure defined in and according to claim 4 and wherein said free end portions are not only flexible but are possessed of inherent minimal yieldable properties capable of permitting the barrel to be adequately supported and aimed in a manner to compensate for recoil action at the moment the rifle is fired.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,147,890 7/1915 Purcell 4294 2,847,909 8/1958 Kester 4294 X 2,985,980 5/1961 Broshous 4294 3,156,062 11/1964 Stevenson et a1. 4294 FOREIGN PATENTS 185,925 5/1907 Germany.

I BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner. 

